Jeremy from Caravan Gifts has a number of shops running on Spreadshirt’s platform. We couldn’t let such an experienced partner’s knowledge just sit there in his head, so we thought we would ask him a couple of questions about his shop. Read on to find out how he got started, what tips he would give new shop partners and more!
What inspired or motivated you to open a shop and how long have you run the shop?
I’ve been caravanning for the last 20 years but never saw anyone wearing a humorous camping t-shirt and thought there might be a niche in the market. I started an online shop with another company but was not impressed with the user interface and started to look for another company, finding Spreadshirt early in 2007. I soon had the Caravan Gifts website up and running, and the orders started to slowly roll in.
How did you learn about Spreadshirt?
I was running a website called Biker-Gifts and decided to purchase my own webspace to host the site and also become a reseller of webspace. This coincided with the hosting company offering a 6 months free full membership promotion with Spreadshirt and a partnership was born.
How much time do you invest in your shop? Do you create the designs yourself?
I run numerous Spreadshirt shops now and spend at least 8 hours a week, creating new designs, SEO, thinking of new ideas and marketing. It’s been good fun sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and playing with words and slogans to come up with ideas. One of the best sellers is “If the van’s a rockin’ don’t come a knockin’ “ I also run competitions with other websites to come up with new slogans and offer a free t-shirt for any idea that I use which also helps to market the website.
Where and how do you market your shop and make it well-known?
Marketing is all about shouting your name from the highest mountain. I Joined forums, recently created a Facebook page and a Twitter account. I’ve also got social networking links at the top of the website to make it easy for others to spread the good word. I always wear my own t-shirts adverting the website and carry business cards to hand out to anyone that asks where I bought it. The back of my own caravan is emblazoned with the website address, so that when I’m towing the caravan, passing drivers can read the advertising. Finally, what better advert for the caravan t-shirts than another customer wearing one on a camp site, as they always get asked the inevitable question “where did you get that t-shirt?” I’ve tried magazine advertising, but found this to be expensive and hardly covered my costs.
Who do you think your customers are?
Caravanning is an enormously popular pursuit. Gone are the days when we wore a flat cap and braces, today’s caravanners come from all walks of life and caravanning has become very popular with younger families who want to enjoy the freedom of the outdoor life. There are currently well in excess of a million people who regularly take caravan holidays and every one of these people is a potential customer.
If you think back from the “opening” of your shop up to now, what would be the most important insight that you would give a newcomer?
You need to come up with a niche idea. If you create a shop with good designs but no theme, then you need to ask yourself – how am I going to sell them? Spreadshirt shops generally do very well in Google if you follow the guidelines, but I would recommend buying your own domain name that is relevant to what you are trying to sell. I settled on www.caravangifts.co.uk as it tells the world what I sell and helps tremendously with getting a good placement in Google. I would recommend creating a website that integrates the Spreadshirt shop into the website without using iFrames so that the checkout looks safe. Yes, it is secure within an iFrame, but potential customers feel a lot happier seeing the https:// and lock symbol appearing in the address bar of the browser rather than an iFrame. There is some good advice in the Spreadshirt Forum, so regularly read this and ask questions. It’s great place for picking up good ideas.
What was your biggest achievement up to now (with or without Spreadshirt)?
I was made redundant about 9 years ago after working as a mechanical design engineer in a small electronics company. I had always dreamed of working for myself, but to this point never had the guts to do it. Motivated by not having a job, I taught myself web design and created a few web sites that started to provide a good income. These have now grown to 16 websites and I haven’t looked back, I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved by using my own initiative!! I now look upon my Spreadshirt shops as a pension, as I would need about £150K in a pension pot to provide the average weekly income that my Spreadshirt shops now generate. However, that’s a few years away yet so plenty of time to create more ideas for t-shirts!!
Have you ever seen someone you don’t know walking around with your t-shirt on?
Yes, quite a few times on camp sites and quite a few motorcycle t-shirts in the Isle of Man purchased from my biker-t-shirts website.
What do you do for a living, or better said: what do you do when you are not fiddling around with your shop?
Like I said before, I was made redundant about 9 years ago and started a company called Tick-Clocks recreating photos onto clock-faces. I have always been into motorcycles and approached the widow of Mike Hailwood about creating an official Mike Hailwood clock and it wasn’t too long before my Biker Gifts website was up and running. This has grown year by year and now provides me with my main income and it’s great to be involved with something you love. I also now run the official Mike Hailwood website for the family of the late Mike Hailwood. When I’m not working, I’m either walking our huge Newfoundland Dog, riding my Suzuki GSXR1100 motorcycle or on holiday in our caravan. Life is good!!!
If you were a t-shirt, what would you look like?
They always say that dog owners look like their dog. I’ve got a Newfoundland as I didn’t think it would be a good idea to get a Shitzu!! However, this is a difficult question and I suppose I would be a T-Shirt with one of my funny slogans, as I like to make people laugh and have a wicked sense of humour!!!
Which question have you always wanted to be asked and what is the answer?
Easy!!! Question: What is top of your list of the 100 things to do before I die? Answer: To achieve all of the other 99 things on my list and live to old age in good health. I’m half way there!!
